Just when the population at large were arguing that there weren’t enough death associations in metal (well they were in my head for the purposes of this review) along come Lord Dying to beef up the ratio a bit. It’s not just their name you see, their song titles are a lesson in absolute positivity as well.

Jest, yes, but not in vain because Summon The Faithless genuinely is a bringer of happy thoughts. The debut album from this Portland four-piece sounds kind of just-scraped-off-the-studio-floor raw but it’s clearly best served that way. And whilst Lord Dying can’t exactly claim any pioneering status, the different styles they bring together are delightful; stoner, doom, classic heavy metal, and even thrash - you can identify them all but without the band necessarily pointing the finger and shouting “this is the one” at their influences.

‘Perverse Osmosis’ heaves in a fashion that threatens to physically bruise, whilst ‘Greed Is Your Horse’ gets into the saddle purely at its own pace. Even when Lord Dying slow things down a touch as on ‘In a Frightful State of Gnawed Dismemberment’ it never goes too far, the band’s tight hold on the reins keeping the track turning where it needs to. There’s something of early Mastodon here as well at times.

Riffs are really what binds Summon The Faithless together, and whilst fine and dandy in its own right there’s not always enough to separate them out. ‘Dreams Of Mercy’ is a good example of Lord Dying letting some air get to the warm and clammy places with its drum-led middle section, ‘What Is Not... Is’ is of the same ilk, however its couple of extra minutes are not put to good use being reserved for fuzzed feedback that neither leads into or out of much of anything.

Like any good band though Lord Dying have grown and built on their demo material to produce a more than decent debut. Could they do even more with it? Probably but it’s that question mark that will mean that come next album there’ll be a lot more faithful that are dying to hear it. Which will be handy, that.

Review by Kirsty Birkett-Stubbs

Track Listing

1. In A Frightful State Of Gnawed Dismemberment
2. Summoning The Faithless
3. Greed Is Your Horse
4. Descend Into External
5. Dreams Of Mercy
6. Perverse Osmosis
7. Water Under A Burning Bridge
8. What Is Not... Is